Oscar-winner Ben Affleck was at one point attached to write, direct, and star in an all-new Batman movie. However, the actor eventually dropped out, and Matt Reeves came in to direct and write a new script. But what was Affleck's Batman movie going to be about?Robert Richardson, who was set to be the cinematographer on Affleck's movie, said on the Happy Sad Confused podcast that the Batman flick would have delved into "the insanity aspects.""Well, he was going more into the insanity aspects. So I think you would’ve seen something a little darker than what we've seen in the past and more into the individual, who's inside Batman," Richardson said, via Batman-News. "What element may be sane and what element may actually not be sane. So he was entering into a little more of the Arkham, as you know, he's going into where you keep everyone who was bad, everyone that shifted and Batman."Richardson said it was "very fascinating" to visit the darker side of Batman. Another interesting element is that Arkham Asylum is rarely seen in Batman movies, though Rocksteady's Batman: Arkham Asylum is set there. The new Joker movie starring Joaquin Phoenix will see the character visiting the "Arkham Hospital."Robert Pattinson stars in the new Batman as the caped crusader in the film that's due in theatres in June 2021. The movie has been in the works for several years; Affleck stepped down as director in early 2017, and more recently confirmed that he was no longer involved at all, stating that he had "tried to direct a version of it, but couldn't crack it." Info from Gamespot.com

According to a leak, the new DLC fighters for Street Fighter V are E. Honda, Lucia, and Poison. The leak suggests the announcement is supposed to be officially made during EVO 2019, which begins August 2 and continues through the weekend.Breaking on Steam, the leak included a new trailer for Street Fighter V that revealed the summer 2019 character bundle for the game. The video has now been taken down, but it featured E. Honda, Lucia, and Poison, who are all coming to Street Fighter V on August 4. A bundle including all three fighters will supposedly release the very next day. The trailer states that "certain costumes and Honda Senta stage" are excluded from the bundle.Edmond Honda, a talented sumo wrestler, has been a part of the fighting game series since Street Fighter II and also appeared in Street Fighter IV. Lucia has never appeared in a Street Fighter game before. An unorthodox detective, she made her fighting game debut in 1995's Final Fight 3. Like Lucia, Poison is a Final Fight character, first appearing in the original 1989 game. She made her Street Fighter debut in Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact but only as a cameo. She wouldn't be playable in the series until Street Fighter X Tekken. She'd return in Ultra Street Fighter IV.In our Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition review, Tamoor Hussain wrote, "With a slick new interface, fully-featured online and offline modes, and every character released thus far--plus Sakura, the first fighter from Season 3 of its DLC--Street Fighter V feels like a complete package. It has always been a strong fighting game that continues to get better over time, but it remained a game for genre enthusiasts. Arcade Edition, however, is a game that you can confidently recommend to anyone. Two years after its launch, Street Fighter V is finally fighting fit."Info from Gamespot.com

Continuing the Madden franchise's recent tradition of story modes, Madden NFL 20 introduces a new narrative campaign. This new mode generally falls flat, but the pro football sim stands out on the field, with new additions that faithfully capture the essence of the NFL experience while making it fun to play again and again.The new story mode, QB1: Face of the Franchise, replaces the Longshot story mode that was featured in Madden 18 and 19. Unlike those campaigns, which featured a pre-set character, Madden 20's QB1 mode lets you create an entirely unique football star and guide him through the final stages of his collegiate career with the hopes of making an NFL starting roster, and, on a longer timeline, complete a journey to hoisting the Lombardi Trophy at the Super Bowl.QB1's story picks up as you decide which college to attend and play for. However, the college football elements within Madden 20 are not anything significant. You select a school from 10 options, including heavyweights like Florida, Oklahoma, Texas, and Clemson. It's a treat to see fully licensed college football teams, complete with true-to-life jerseys, logos, stadiums, and marching band songs, but the gameplay experience in reality is limited to two games in the College Football Playoffs--and you can't play the college teams in quickplay later on.After winning the National Championship against all odds, you're off to the NFL Combine where your performance in front of scouts and GMs determines how high you go in the draft. There are some genuinely funny moments here with your aloof agent Les Moore, and interactions with him are some of the best character moments in the story mode. After making it to the NFL, the game then disappointingly becomes the standard Franchise mode, except your character has more backstory that acts as fuel to drive you to succeed on the field. That's the idea, at least; in practice, it leaves much to be desired.In part, that's because QB1's cinematic cutscenes and Telltale-style choices end once you get to the NFL. At that point, the narrative beats play out through text messages you receive from fans and other players from around the league. This delivery method makes conversations awkward and ultimately forgettable. There is one storyline in particular involving a sick child rooting for you that falls flat; it tries too hard to tug on your heartstrings, moody piano pieces and all, without earning any payoff. Without giving too much away, another major storyline in QB1 involves your college teammate and friend, and it ends abruptly, with the strong suggestion that the story will continue in Madden NFL 21. That's too bad, because this character, in the limited screen time he gets, is far more interesting than the cookie-cutter, run-of-the-mill one you create.In general, QB1 moves at such a fast pace that it doesn't allow for thoughtful character development. Not only that, but the story that QB1 does tell is hokey and clumsily unraveled. The story overall feels barebones and incomplete, with the entirety of the QB1 mode feeling like a half-baked idea in the end.Despite the lackluster story and the way it's delivered, QB1 succeeds in connecting you to your on-field performance and inspiring you to improve or play differently each week once you've made it to the NFL. The text message system, while not the best avenue for full conversation, is better utilized in delivering week-to-week objectives and challenges. You can complete these to earn XP, which you can then invest into your character in an RPG-lite-like system where you choose which aspects of your game you want to develop.As an example, I responded with some trash talk against one of the league's best cornerbacks, Richard Sherman, and my Game Day Goal, as it's called, was to achieve 400 yards or more of offense and a 60-yard pass--not an easy task with Sherman in the backfield. The system is dynamic and responsive to what happens on the field week-to-week, and this is a nice touch that provides a further level of connection to your character and their status in the league.Madden 20's standard Franchise mode, which is separate from the QB1 mode, gets a welcome update this year. Its implementation of the new Scenario Engine, which lets you interact with players and coaches through the aforementioned text-message system, is the best new feature for Franchise. Like with QB1, having weekly objectives that you decide on is a compelling way to keep you interested and engaged in a 16+ week season that can otherwise get monotonous and repetitive. However, Franchise mode overall doesn't get any other significant or meaningful updates this year, which might be a bummer for seasoned players wanting more.Perhaps the biggest and most exciting change for Madden 20 are the new X-Factor and Superstar abilities. 50 of the league's best players have been given these super abilities, and they revamp the fundamentals of Madden playmaking. X-Factor abilities are unlocked when you meet the qualifications to get "in the zone"--for some QBs, it's throwing for 5 or more yards in the air multiple times without making a mistake--while Superstar abilities are passive traits tied to your player that are always active.The new X-Factor abilities are truly game-changers, and they further emphasize the distinction between the average NFL player and elite athletes. For example, the Gambler X-Factor ability--which only Aaron Rodgers has--makes it impossible for AI defenders to intercept his passes. Similarly powerful X-Factor abilities are available for defenders as well, and that helps balance things out. Not only that, but X-Factor abilities can be lost quickly; a QB who takes a sack is immediately out of the zone, while dropped passes and fumbles also cancel out these abilities.These abilities, when combined with an elite player like Madden 20 cover star Patrick Mahomes (who has incredible baseline stats to begin with), become overly powerful in some instances. Mahomes' unique passive Superstar abilities give him immense speed and dexterity out of the pocket, on top of his already powerful and accurate arm. When teammate Travis Kelce unlocks his own X-Factor ability (which gives him a guaranteed aggressive catch on any single-man coverage), it becomes simply too easy to complete big plays down the field.Outside of that issue, the new X-Factor and Superstar abilities introduce a level of strategy that the Madden series has never seen. I found myself often weighing up whether I should pursue the X-Factor qualification conditions or choose lower-risk plays that are more likely to be successful. At pivotal stages, like in the fourth quarter or in a third-and-long situation, this level of risk/reward is heightened. Not only that, but with 50 X-Factor abilities spread across players on the 32 NFL teams, it encourages you to try new teams and strategies.Importantly, X-Factor abilities do not feel gimmicky or too overpowerful for the most part as they're difficult to unlock and have numerous counters. Stephon Gilmore of the New England Patriots, for example, has an X-Factor ability called Acrobat that allows him to perform a diving move where he makes an incredible pass breakup. Some pass-rushers, too, including Aaron Donald of the Los Angeles Rams, can shred the defense and break the O-Line easily to sack the quarterback for a big loss. The saying "any given Sunday" is truer than ever in Madden 20 thanks to the X-Factor abilities.Overall, the on-field action in Madden this year is better than ever. The game provides more on-screen info than last year's iteration, making it easier to see things like decision-making specifics (such as average yards-per-play or yards given up) and which elite offensive and defensive players have X-Factor and Superstar abilities. This makes for an easy way to help you see the odds of having success with a play before the snap. The playbook menus (and menus overall, for that matter) are cleaned up and brighter, which helps you see important information at a glance.Also new this year are Run-Pass Options added to playbooks. These hybrid plays provide yet another way for play-callers to mix things up and keep defenders guessing. There are also numerous player-specific animations, including Aaron Rodgers' signature quick release and Patrick Mahomes' sidearm throw. This all works together to make Madden 20 closer than ever to replicating the look and feel of actual pro football. Nothing in the updated gameplay mechanics for Madden 20 is as substantial as the introduction of Real Player Motion from last year, but the controls in Madden are as good as they've ever been thanks to further refinement on last year's improvements and the introduction of some welcome tweaks and small changes. A subtle gameplay change for 2019 is that you can double press the receiver icon to pump fake; this small change makes it easier than ever to trick a defender into biting on a pass route, providing yet another level of depth and control.The core fundamentals that underpin Madden 20's gameplay feel more solid and dependable than ever. Mistakes like poor passes, missed tackles, and bad decision-making are yours and yours alone to own because the controls rarely, if ever, let you down.Also notable for Madden 20 is what's (generally) not there: bugs. After many hours with the game, I only experienced a handful of minor glitches, though your mileage may vary, and it's worth noting that you can continue to expect other oddities like out-of-place commentary and some sideline players executing the same animations all the time. I also experienced what felt like an unusually high number of facemask calls and injuries.Now in its third year using EA's Frostbite engine, Madden 20 also looks very good with its better-looking player models that have richer detail and more realistic flourishes (except for Greg Olsen; what happened there?). The Madden 20 game engine also provides gorgeous environmental effects like glistening sun rays peeking through the clouds and casting shadows on the field and snow effects that limit your vision and force you to suggest playing more conservatively to accommodate for the wintry conditions.The commentary team composed of Brandon Gaudin and Charles Davis also return in Madden 20, and they are consistently a treat to listen to. Despite some lines being repeated from time to time (how many times do we have to hear that Julian Edelman was a quarterback in college or that Tom Brady was initially drafted to play baseball?), the pair deliver the right mixture of lines that keep you informed and engaged in equal measure. Madden 20's overall broadcast, presentation, and gameplay packages aim to replicate the real-life NFL experience, but it continues to be a shame that the voicelines--at least all the ones I heard in over 20 hours with Madden 20--do not comment on real-world NFL issues. As with previous years, the commentary will be updated regularly throughout the season.Among Madden 20's other modes is the fantasy team-building card-based Ultimate Team, and this continues to be the game's richest when it comes to the sheer multitude of challenges to complete. It remains a thrill to build a fantasy team and compete either against other fantasy AI teams or the world at large through online play.A subtle yet enjoyable change for MUT this year is how you can move from one challenge to the next without returning to the menu screen, which is great considering how many there are to complete. There is also a new "Mission" system that helps you select the right challenges to complete in order to acquire items for your deck. In years past, MUT could feel like a hard-to-parse system that you slogged through waywardly, but the new system gives you more direction, and as such it is more respectful of your time.Ultimate Team does have issues with microtransactions, however. At the very start, the tutorial instructs you to visit the store where you can make real-money purchases, which feels like an unnecessary nudge toward spending extra. As with past iterations of MUT, it can feel like a grind to get the cards you want, which in turn encourages you to consider spending money on microtransactions when you otherwise might not. That rubbed me the wrong way, but MUT overall is still an enjoyable and engaging mode that I expect to return to again and again.Madden NFL 20 is an improved version of the annualized professional football series that excels in some areas and leaves something to be desired in others. The new QB1 career mode--which includes a barebones NCAA football experience--overall feels like a half-baked idea that doesn't deliver anything meaningful or interesting. When it comes to the on-the-field action, however, the new X-Factor and Superstar abilities shake up the familiar gameplay formula to give seasoned players and newcomers alike a fresh way to scheme plays and orchestrate strategy on both sides of the ball. Info from Gamespot.com

When you start up Sky: Children of the Light, numerous messages shoot across the screen as it loads. Messages informing you of server connections, the reception of in-game currencies, and the like are commonplace for games with an online focus, but there’s one short message that feels uniquely descriptive to thatgamecompany’s fourth title: "Finding new friends." It's just a simple notification that you’re being connected to other players in this intimately connected universe, but it’s also a strong message of what Sky is really about. Although it mimics many gameplay elements from Journey, it’s Sky’s evolution of those ideas that makes it a fascinating multiplayer experiment with deeply meditative qualities.Playing Sky is incredibly similar to Journey. You control a robed figure, recognizable as a small child, and navigate a series of small environments connected only by the constellations in the stars they share above. Sky keeps things simple by tasking you with navigating its environments and holding down a single button to soar into the air and take flight. Flight is central to Sky’s otherwise simple mechanics, letting you execute gorgeous maneuvers through the clouds or delicately glide between the remains of mysterious ruins. Expressive yet subtle animations make each movement in the air feel delightful, even though you’re doing little more than controlling your direction. Swooping down into the clouds only to tilt upwards at the last minute is rewarded with a cute pirouette, for example, letting the wind engulf your robe and accurately shape it in the wind.Flight isn’t free in Sky. Flying draws light from your robe, which limits how much aerial freedom you have. Light is collected from any light source you come across, and it’s your job to spread it around in turn. You ferry around light with candles, using them to spread fire to unlit lanterns and shrines. You can also use light to burn away corrupted vegetation or scare dangerous wildlife that will attack you in the dark. Glowing, faceless children are scattered around each new area you explore, bestowing you with wings that help you upgrade the amount of light you can store at a time, in turn letting you fly longer. You can lose wings when you’re carrying no light and take damage from enemies or environmental hazards, though you can easily pick them up again. Sky doesn't feel punishing at any point, but it does use these gentle nudges to remind you of how great it feels to have a bounty of flight at your fingertips and what it might feel like to lose it again.Collecting light is beneficial to getting around, which in turn lets you discover lost spirits that govern the central progression in Sky. Each area has a star constellation that you slowly complete by saving lost spirits and returning them to the skies above. Most of these are simple exploration puzzles. By diligently poking around, you find blue outlines of long-forgotten beings, each creating a breadcrumb trail to follow that tells a short story of the spirit it’s leading to. These are moments frozen in time, telling vague stories that can come across as anything from humorous to tragic. It’s cheerful to see a skit of two clumsy beings attempting to move objects far bigger than them from one room to another, and equally sober to witness another in anguish, mourning a painful loss. Sky’s story is intentionally vague so that you fill in the blanks, interpreting what purpose light serves in its world and why its sacrifice is meaningful.Sky is entirely playable alone, and you're not required to find any fixed number of its spirits to finish it. But it’s also a game with a big emphasis on sharing your experience with strangers. You aren’t a unique figure in its world, and certainly not the only one carrying light to its eventual end. Instead, your journey is consistently filled with other players, each on their own adventure that you can choose to partake in for just a moment or two. You can contribute in small ways. A passing player might hold out their candle for you to light, letting you replenish their light in turn if you choose to. To befriend another player, you need to share a candle with them, permanently linking you two and adding them to your friends list (which is suitably represented by a growing constellation). You never see these players' names; instead, you name them based on your interactions with them. It feels like meeting someone new for the first time, but not immediately being able to speak to them. You can use taps to let out audio pings that help gather other players around you, but you're also able to take a seat on a bench, wait for another player to sit next to you, and engage in a more direct, text-based conversation if you choose.The most interesting way to interact with other players is with emotes, which are unlocked with each new spirit that you free. You can use these emotes to express yourself to other players, with anything from a simple wave or a point in a direction to more intimate displays of friendly affection, like hugs. There are also separate emotes and actions you can unlock by increasing your friendship with other players. By rewarding each other with consumable candles, you’ll unlock unique abilities (which can also only be used between you two) that can change the way you navigate through each area. My personal favorite was the ability to form long chains of players by holding hands, with one player guiding the group to new places while using everyone's collective light to fuel the flight. This also helps new players see areas they might not yet possess the ability to reach, granting Sky a cooperative nature that's remarkably easy to engage with.This simplicity helps some of Sky's more demanding puzzles, where cooperation between multiple players--anything between a single pair to a full group of eight--is required. Some doors, for example, require two players to light urns at the same time to open. Other more demanding challenges task up to eight players to gather around an octagon and light old runes in a specific order. Although these challenges are rarely hard to decipher, and finding enough players to participate with was never an issue in my time with the game, simply trying to get everyone to alight in more group-focused tasks was slightly frustrating. Since none of these puzzles are required to continue through Sky, they're easy to overlook.Sky weaves its focus on forming friendships into its microtransaction model, too, which changes the rules of what you’ve come to expect from these systems in a big way. Hearts are used to purchase cosmetic items, but you can't buy them outright. Instead, you can purchase candles (which you can also get in-game) which can then be packaged and sent to a friend as a heart. This is the only way to earn hearts, meaning you’ll need to depend on the gracious gifts of friends you’ve made in Sky to kit yourself out in some fancy new clothing. There are also options to purchase seasonal passes that unlock more straightforward daily quests and a few pieces of exclusive clothing, but for the most part you’ll be focused on forming new bonds with strangers and exchanging gifts with them frequently if you’re invested in standing out from everyone else visually.Your first flights through a temple in the sky or the hurried dash you need to make between awnings of large mushrooms in a rain-soaked forest are delightful.This means that you’ll likely be playing Sky well after the credits have rolled on your initial playthrough, which can take anywhere between four to six hours. You can collect any outstanding spirits you likely missed, especially since some aren’t even accessible without having played later areas in the game. You also need to reacquire your wings for flight again, due to story reasons you learn about during the finale. All of this means that you’ll be revisiting many areas you’ve already soared through at least once before, which can remove some of the splendor you experienced the first time around. This is especially true when you’re breaking from their intended flow to poke around the environment in search of small crevices you missed the first time. This feels like it goes against the natural harmony of Sky's intended path, signposted with simple nudges that point you in the right direction. When you’re solely focusing on completion, Sky just isn’t as compelling.Yet, there’s a meditative quality to return visits when you’re simply looking for a brief escape. Your first flights through a temple in the sky or the hurried dash you need to make between awnings of large mushrooms in a rain-soaked forest are delightful the first time around. Their mixtures of stunningly detailed environments and suitable stirring music are impactful, and less so when you’re running around in circles trying to see if there was a small crevice you forgot to explore.Sky is both different to everything thatgamecompany has made before but also a smart evolution of what makes its games special. It's simple to play while feeling incredible at the same time, making the act of flight exciting every time your feet leave the ground. It also features a fascinating spin on in-game purchases, locking its most alluring rewards behind the action of making friends and making a positive enough impression on them. That means you have to play a lot of Sky to eventually work towards what you want, which saps some life out of the gorgeous vignettes you're free to explore. But it's no less memorable for the ideas it presents or calming in the way it gives you the freedom to pursue them, making it another journey worth seeing through.Info from Gamespot.com

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare will bring back killstreak rewards in multiplayer, publisher Activision has confirmed just ahead of the game's full multiplayer reveal. However, one of the killstreak options has caused some controversy. The three killstreak rewards announced so far are a juggernaut care package, an armored assault vehicle, and the chemical weapon white phosphorus, and it's that last one that has proven controversial.All three have been seen in some form or another in past Call of Duty titles: Juggernauts were used extensively in the Modern Warfare subseries, as were light armored vehicles. White phosphorus was previously used as a tactical grenade in the Black Ops series--where it caused "a small amount of damage on detonation"--but the framing of the weapon as a "reward" this time around paints it in a somewhat different light. GameSpot has contacted Activision for comment.Own the opposition - reap the rewards.Killstreaks make a return in #ModernWarfare. Tune-in August 1st for the full Multiplayer Premiere. pic.twitter.com/dUy6ZrkNzJ — Call of Duty (@CallofDuty) July 29, 2019In real life, the use of white phosphorus--also known as "Willy Pete"--against civilians and in civilian areas contravenes the Geneva Convention, thereby classing it as a war crime. Some Modern Warfare multiplayer maps take place in civilian areas, albeit without civilian characters present.Modern Warfare developer Infinity Ward told GameSpot recently that it doesn't want to shy away from hard-hitting issues in the upcoming shooter. "Today, modern warfare means that the war isn't just over there," said the studio's narrative director, Taylor Kurosaki. "The war is everywhere. It's in our own backyards. It's in places that can suddenly become a battlefield at a moment's notice. It's about enemies who don't wear uniforms. It's about civilian collateral damage kind of being, unfortunately, part of the equation."Later in the same interview, Kurosaki said the game will punish you for making mistakes on the battlefield: "If you were a soldier and you actually deployed into a theater of war and you shot down a bunch of innocent civilians, you would be arrested and court marshaled. The game kind of does the same thing. The game does not allow you to get away with going rogue. You have a command structure that you have to follow and orders that you have to follow and if you try to just be a bad apple, the game is going to smack you down for that."However, Kurosaki was talking about the game's single-player campaign--which also depicts child soldiers, among other serious topics. It's unclear if the multiplayer mode will treat the use of white phosphorus as harshly as it sounds as if the story mode will treat "mistakes." It's this that is the root of some of the latest controversy.For more, you can read our full Call of Duty: Modern Warfare single-player interview. A full reveal of Modern Warfare's multiplayer offering is coming on August 1, but we've been given a sneak peek already with the new 2v2 Gunfight mode. Modern Warfare launches for PS4, Xbox One, and PC on October 25.Info from Gamespot.com

Epic has crowned the winners of the first Fortnite World Cup, and the big winner is teenager Kyle "Bugha" Giersdorf. The 16-year-old player won the largest single pool of cash in the competition, taking home $3 million for winning the Solo tournament on Sunday. That large payout was part of a $30 million prize pool that Epic set aside for the World Cup, split between several competitors. All 100 players earned at least $50,000. The Duos winners Nyhrox and Aqua on team Cooler also earned $3 million, but they split the prize. The Creatives winners took just over $1.3 million each. You can see the final match of the Solos World Up, along with Giersdorf's subsequent victory celebration, in the video below.Meanwhile, Fortnite is preparing for the launch of Season 10. What exactly is coming in the next seasonal changeover isn't entirely clear yet, but Epic Games has started to drop teasers indicating that the Drift may be coming back.The new season is primed to start on August 1, which means you still have some time left to complete the remaining challenges and finish out your battle pass for the season.Info from Gamespot.com

A presentation for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate detailed the new Dragon Quest heroes being added to the game today as downloadable content, but they're not the only changes coming. The 4.0 update, coming alongside the DQ heroes, makes several changes of its own.As detailed in the presentation, the patch will add a time limit to your Final Smash meter, making it more difficult to play the waiting game. This change appears like it was designed to encourage players to go ahead and use it while they have the chance, making for more active battles. An Online Tourney mode has also been added to competitive play, and it will occasionally offer special rule sets to create some variety.For players who just want to get through Adventure Mode without too much hassle, the game is adding a Very Easy difficulty. Or if you want to kick back and watch other people play, the Spectate Mode now offers rewards for placing a prediction on the winner. You can use the tokens you earned to purchase rewards, but there's no wagering involved in placing a guess, so there's no real downside risk to playing along and placing a prediction. The update also makes tweaks to sharing functions, like the ability to add screenshots to your video clips.All of this is in addition to the new Hero character, who is also coming with the 4.0 update starting today (July 30). He's available for $6, or with the Fighter's Pass of five characters for $25. We already know the next DLC character will be Banjo-Kazooie, on loan from Rare. For more details on how Dragon Quest's Hero plays, check out all the new gameplay details from the presentation.Info from Gamespot.com

As promised, Nintendo shared a load of new details about Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's next DLC character, the Hero from Dragon Quest, during today's special video presentation. Not only did game director Masahiro Sakurai give us a detailed look at the Hero's moves, he confirmed when the DLC fighter will go live, and it's very soon.The Hero will join the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate roster today, July 30. This news doesn't come as much of a surprise. It was expected the Hero would release this month when he was featured among July's other big Nintendo Switch releases in a recent promotional video.The Hero's default look is based on the Luminary from Dragon Quest XI, while his alternate costumes are the heroes from Dragon Quests III, IV, and VIII. Each of his special attacks are inspired by different spells from the Dragon Quest series. His neutral special fires off a Frizz that can be powered up to Frizzle or Kafrizz depending on how long you charge it; his side special unleashes Zap spells; and his up special unleashes Woosh spells. However, you won't be able to use these spells if your MP gauge is too low.The Hero's down special, meanwhile, is the Command Selection. This pulls up a command menu just as you'd see in a true Dragon Quest game. The commands are randomized each match and allow you to select a spell or other move, such as Oomph, which buffs Hero's attack power for a limited time, or Kaclang, which will temporarily turn him metal. Between all of these possible attacks, Sakurai says the Hero has the highest number of moves of any character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.Arriving alongside the Hero is a new stage called Yggdrasil's Altar, which is based on a location in Dragon Quest XI. Occasionally a chest will appear on the stage; if you open it, you may either receive an item or be attacked by a Mimic. Additionally, a handful of new Dragon Quest Spirits are being added to the Spirit Board. A couple of new Mii Fighter costumes based on the Dragon Quest series will be available for purchase as well; these will each run for 75 cents apiece.The Hero is included as part of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's Fighters Pass, which costs $25 USD and grants owners access to five DLC characters as they're released, including the already available Joker from Persona 5 and the upcoming Banjo-Kazooie. Each DLC fighter can also be purchased individually for $6 USD and comes with a brand-new stage, an assortment of music tracks drawn from their series, and a handful of new unlockable Spirits.The aforementioned Banjo-Kazooie are the next DLC characters coming to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The bear and bird duo are slated to arrive sometime this fall, although no release date has been announced just yet. Nintendo still has two other unannounced fighters on the way to the game by February 2020.Releasing alongside the Hero today is Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's 4.0 update, which adds a few new features to the game, including a Final Smash meter time limit and a Very Easy difficulty setting for the World of Light adventure mode. The patch also introduces an Online Tournament mode, which will occasionally host special event tournaments, as well as a new spectate mode that allows you to try to predict who will win a match; guess correctly and you'll earn tokens that you can then exchange for items. You can rewatch the Hero presentation above.Info from Gamespot.com

FIFA 20's cover stars have been revealed, with one of three different players adorning the case depending on which version you buy.Eden Hazard is the star of the standard edition following his move to Real Madrid this summer. The Champions edition, meanwhile, is paraded by Liverpool defender and PFA player of the year Virgil Van Dijk. Finally, France legend Zinedine Zidane is on the cover for FIFA 20's Ultimate edition and will be available as an Icon card in Ultimate Team.FIFA 20 launches for PS4, Xbox One, and PC on September 27. Legacy editions will come to Switch and older consoles, with updated kits and squads but lacking any substantial changes. The PS4, Xbox One, and PC standard editions come with three rare gold packs for FUT, while the Champions edition comes with 12 and will be released three days earlier, on September 24. The Ultimate edition also unlocks that day but comes with 24 rare gold packs as well as a guaranteed untradeable FUT Ones to Watch card. The three versions cost $60 / £60 / AU $100, $80 / £80 / AU $120, and $100 / £90 / AU $140, respectively.EA's search for a new cover star has seemingly been a tricky one. Last year, Cristiano Ronaldo was all over FIFA 19's marketing material, but the Portuguese forward was later accused of rape, with EA stating at the time it was "closely monitoring the situation." The charges have since been dropped, but Ronaldo's move to Juventus--who are no longer licensed in FIFA--apparently scuppered any lingering chances of him remaining on the series' cover.Halfway through last season, EA replaced the FIFA 19 cover featuring Ronaldo with one focusing on Kevin De Bruyne, Paolo Dybala, and Neymar. This time around Dybala was a no-go due to his ongoing employment at Juventus, while Neymar was also accused of rape. Those charges have been dropped because of a lack of evidence, pending a final review.For more on this year's game, check out all the new features in FIFA 20 Pro Clubs.Info from Gamespot.com

The Fast & Furious series might be nearly 20 years old, but it shows no sign of slowing down. The first spin-off, Hobbs & Shaw, hits theaters this week and the next film in the series is also in production. Now regular series writer Chris Morgan has suggested that a future movie could have an usual setting--outer space.Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Morgan revealed that no setting was off-limits for the franchise, as long as it fulfilled some simple criteria. "I would never shoot down space," he said. "Never, never. I would literally never shoot down anything, as long as it hits the parameters: 'Is it badass? is it awesome? Will the audience love it? And will it not break faith with the audience as they're watching it?' I'm down for whatever."While a space adventure for Dominic Toretto and crew might happen at some stage, it won't be the currently-untitled ninth Fast & Furious movie, which hits theaters on May 22, 2020. It's directed by Justin Lin, who has made four of the previous movies, and stars series regulars Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, and Tyrese Gibson, with Charlize Theron and Helen Mirren both returning from 2018's The Fate of the Furious.Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson won't be in Fast 9, but can be seen alongside Jason Statham in the spin-off Hobbs & Shaw, which releases on August 2. You can watch the latest trailer here. For more, read GameSpot's guide to the biggest upcoming movies of 2019.Info from Gamespot.com

Obsidian's RPG The Outer Worlds is coming relatively soon, but if you can wait a little while longer you'll be able to play it on the go. The studio announced that it will be bringing the game to Nintendo Switch sometime following its launch on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.A brief video with senior producer Matthew Singh details the basics of the game and its port to Switch. This version is being developed in partnership with Virtuos, a studio that has pitched in on Switch versions of games like Dark Souls Remastered and Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age. The video didn't detail a firm release date, only that it will come sometime after the other versions that are slated for October 25."It kind of blends two of my passions," Singh said. "I've been a lifetime Nintendo fan ever since I was three, I've had the NES all the way through every single console and every single handheld. I'm super excited to be able to take the type of experience we have and to be able to finally play it on a handheld platform. Today we can play a full experience, on-the-go, anywhere you want. Hopefully we can find an audience for people who may have never had this type of experience before."#TheOuterWorlds, the upcoming single-player sci-fi RPG from Obsidian Entertainment and Private Division, is coming to #NintendoSwitch! Learn more about @OuterWorlds from the Senior Producer in this video. pic.twitter.com/b1wcmD07AA — Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) July 30, 2019The Outer Worlds looks similar to the modern Fallout games--sensible for the studio that made New Vegas--but the setting is instead a space-hopping adventure. Like those games, though, it's defined by open-ended choices, and you can even become the villain. Microsoft recently purchased Obsidian, but The Outer Worlds is being published through Take-Two's Private Division label.Info from Gamespot.com

Nintendo has issued its earnings statements for the quarter ending June 30, and once again we have updated sales data on Switch hardware and its top games. The console/handheld hybrid is nearing 37 million lifetime units sold, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is gaining ground in the software charts.The Nintendo Switch has reached 36.87 million units sold, with software topping 210 million units. The ranking of the highest-selling software has remained the same, relative to each other from the March sales figures, but strong sales of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate suggests it will be overtaking Super Mario Odyssey for the second place spot soon.As of March the number two and three spots were occupied by Super Mario Odyssey (14.44 million) and Smash Bros. (13.81 million) respectively. The latest figures show Odyssey staying relatively steady with only a half-million more sold, and Smash Bros. making a much bigger leap of almost a million units. That has put it only 200,000 copies behind Odyssey, so those two will probably swap places by the next set of sales data.Both of them are still behind the top seller, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. And Pokemon Let's Go, a fairly recent entry, has held onto its spot in the top five. And while it wasn't part of the top sellers, Nintendo did share sales on the newly-released Super Mario Maker 2. That game has sold 2.42 million units through the end of June. Check out the full list of top sellers below.Nintendo Switch Software SalesMario Kart 8 Deluxe -- 17.89 millionSuper Mario Odyssey -- 14.94 millionSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate -- 14.73 millionThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild -- 13.61 millionPokemon Let's Go -- 10.98 millionSplatoon 2 -- 9.02 millionSuper Mario Party -- 6.99 millionNew Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe -- 4.10 million1-2 Switch -- 3.01 millionMario Tennis Aces -- 2.75 millionInfo from Gamespot.com

The Walking Dead comic book might have come to a surprise ending this month, but the TV version of the zombie franchise keeps on growing. Season 10 of the main show premieres in October, and the spin-off Fear the Walking Dead was recently renewed for a sixth season. There's also a second spin-off on the way, and the first teaser has now been released.The teaser doesn't show any footage from the show--and we still don't know the title. However, it does reveal some of the young cast members, talking direct to camera about what we can expect from the show. "There have been things going on in The Walking Dead universe since the very start of the story, all happening over all these years," we are told. "In other places we haven't seen. With people we haven't seen. With the dead we haven't seen. But we'll see it all this spring." The teaser also features various shots of intriguing concept art--check it out below.A new world of #TheWalkingDead is coming this Spring... pic.twitter.com/CQsY6fyCaf — The Walking Dead (@TheWalkingDead) July 30, 2019The new Waking Dead series stars Aliyah Royale as Iris, Annet Mahendru as Huck, Alexa Mansour as Hope, Nicolas Cantu as Elton, and Hal Cumpston as Silas. Kong: Skull Island director Jordan Vogt-Roberts directs the first episode. Plans for the new series were first revealed in March.The Walking Dead featured at San Diego Comic-Con earlier this month, where news emerged about the three upcoming spin-off movies. The films will focus on Andrew Lincoln's character of Rick Grimes, and a teaser for the first movie was screened. While the film doesn't have a release date or title yet, we did learn that it will get a theatrical release. It was also announced that longtime star Danai Gurira, who plays Michonne in The Walking Dead, will be leaving the show after Season 10.Info from Gamespot.com

One of the most interesting character arcs between Avengers: Endgame and Infinity War is Bruce Banner/Hulk's transformation into Professor Hulk. Taking essentially two different characters and smashing them into one creates a exceptionally unique character arc; however, it's one we never get to see take place on screen. With the digital release of Avengers: Endgame, the audio commentary for the film explained that at one point, the audience did get to see Banner and Hulk become Professor Hulk, but it actually wasn't in this movie.While the character's transformation was a surprise for viewers in Endgame, originally, fans got to see the scene in Infinity War. "We called him Smart Hulk throughout the shoot," explained screenwriter Steve McFeely during the commentary for Endgame. "The creation of Smart Hulk, used to take place in Infinity War. He was fighting in Wakanda. The whole arc of the story was Banner and Hulk were not getting along. Hulk wouldn't come out to help him. And at his hour of greatest need, they make some sort of compromise, and Smart Hulk rips out of the [Iron Man] armor and beats the crap out of Cull Obsidian and destroys him. It was pretty clear that the movie could not handle this weird success. The movie needed to just stay in its succession of losses in the third act, which meant some hustling on the part of VFX late in the game."That scene was part of the movie until late in post-production. "Cutting that out was a decision made during the editing process on Infinity War, by which point we had already shot Endgame," screenwriter Chris Markus stated. Apparently, this was even shown to test audiences, and people had trouble accepting it. Director Anthony Russo went on to say that they didn't have enough space to tell this story, as everything was happening so quickly during the climax of the film."Imagine before Thanos shows up, we had a scene where Hulk comes out of the bushes, and Natasha says, 'Hey, big guy, sun's getting low.' And [Hulk] says, 'Oh Natasha, that's not… We don't need that now,'" continued McFeely. "And speaks in perfect English, and you're supposed to be kind of delighted and jarred by it, and then they're all gonna get dusted. It was just tonally off."The Snap worked out for him in a way, right? He is his best self. He is sort of the last remaining superhero. Many [fans] want to take pictures with him in the diner. For most other people, I guess Tony aside, it didn't work out... I think the core conflict of who Banner is, is that there are two characters fighting over a host body, and they hate each other, and that's been the story with him for years. At some point, Banner, who's an intelligent human being, decides, 'What if we put the hate aside, and we try to resolve this in a way that is holistic?' And he merges the two of them."Avengers: Endgame is available now digitally through various retailers. The home release contains the aforementioned audio commentary with the writers and directors of the film, as well as deleted scenes, numerous featurettes, and a gag reel. The 4K/Blu-ray version of the movie won't hit stores until August 13.Buy or Pre-order Avengers: EndgameBuy it digitally on Amazon (7/30)Pre-order on Blu-ray at Best Buy (8/13)Pre-order the steelbook version at Best Buy (8/13)Some links to supporting retailers are automatically made into affiliate links, and GameSpot may receive a small share of those sales.Info from Gamespot.com

The PlayStation 4 has reached a huge milestone. According to Sony's latest earnings report, the console shipped 3.2 million units worldwide during the first quarter of the fiscal year 2019, up from the 2.6 million it moved during the final quarter of FY2018. When combined with the 96.8 million units the system had sold as of this past April, that brings its global lifetime numbers up to a staggering 100 million.According to video game analyst Daniel Ahmad, the PS4 has now become the fastest console to hit the 100 million mark, surpassing both the PS2 and Nintendo's Wii. It took the PS2 five years and nine month to reach that milestone, while the PS4 was able to do so in five years and seven months. Sony expects to sell 15 million PS4 systems this fiscal year, which would bring console up to 111.8 million units by March 31, 2020.Hardware wasn't the only milestone Sony surpassed. In the same earnings report, the company revealed that digital purchases of full PS4 games during this past quarter hit 53%, the first time more players had purchased digital copies of games over physical ones. Meanwhile, PlayStation Plus reached 36.2 million subscribers--up year-over-year from the 33.9 million it had in the first quarter of FY2018.These are especially impressive results considering the PS4 is entering its seventh year on the market, and its successor, the PS5, is looming on the horizon. While the next-generation console isn't expected to launch until at least 2020, Sony has already begun revealing tidbits of information about it. The company has already confirmed it will be backwards compatible with PS4 games, and we know the system will still have a disc drive and use a solid state drive.While PS5 may be approaching, there are still a few major releases in store for the PS4. Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima's enigmatic Death Stranding launches on November 8, while the highly anticipated Final Fantasy VII Remake arrives on March 3, 2020. The Last of Us: Part II is also on the way. While it doesn't yet have a concrete release date, Ellie actress Ashley Johnson teased it could be launching in February 2020.Info from Gamespot.com